General Tao's Tofu

Now before you start rolling your eyes and grumbling about the tofu, I'll have you know this recipe is delicious. Robert and Adjoa gave a hearty thumbs up. It also received rave reviews and is incredibly popular on vegweb.com. Oh, and it only has about 300 calories per serving.

So there.

General Tao's Tofu

• 1 box of firm tofu
• egg substitute for 1 egg - I just used an egg. It increases the calories and isn't very vegetarian, but I don't really care about all that at the moment.
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• vegetable oil for frying - I used olive oil because I don't typically have vegetable oil on hand unless I'm baking a lot of goodies. Which I haven't been lately. Sigh. Olive oil is also sweeter than vegetable oil, so you can get away with using less sugar than the recipe calls for later.
  
• 3 chopped green onions
• 1 Tablespoon minced ginger - I recommend using fresh ginger. This really makes the dish and is soooo yummy. I added a little extra ginger because I love it.
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic - I also recommend using fresh garlic. The flavor is just so much better than dried garlic.
• 2/3 cup vegetable stock - I was out of vegetable stock, so I had to use chicken stock. It helped give the dish more of a chicken flavor.
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce - Use low sodium soy sauce, if you have it.
• 4 Tablespoons sugar - This is a lot of sugar, and the dish is sweet. You can easily reduce the amount of sugar and still have a super yummy dinner.
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup Red Bell Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon sherry (optional) - I didn't put this in and we didn't miss a thing
• 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
• Cayenne Pepper, to taste
  
• 3 cups steamed vegetables - I used a frozen stir-fry mix
  

Tofu Preparation:

This takes a little forethought and a little preparation, but it makes all the difference in the world. Whenever you are using tofu as a meat substitute, I would highly recommend taking a few extra steps here. It makes all the difference in the world and helps the tofu have a more chicken-like consistency. You are going to drain, press, and freeze the tofu.

• When you get home from the store, immediately remove and drain the tofu.
• Place a dish towel on the counter, lay a paper towel on top and place the tofu in the center.
• Cover the tofu with another paper towel and another dish towel.
  
• You need to add some weight. A book or two works. I put a plate on top and a water bottle filled with water. The extra weight will help press out the water.
• Let it sit for a while.
  
• Slice the tofu horizontally so you have 2 rectangles, half as thick.
  
• Put it in the freezer. I remove the tofu the day before I want to use it and just stick it in the refrigerator.
  

Directions:

Cut prepared, thawed tofu into 1 inch chunks. Mix the egg replacer as specified on the box and add an additional 3 tablespoons water. Dip tofu in egg replacer/water mixture and coat completely. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cornstarch over tofu and coat completely. Watch out that the cornstarch doesn't clump up at the bottom of the bowl.

Heat oil in pan and fry tofu pieces until golden. Drain oil.

Heat 3 Tablespoons oil in pan on medium heat. Add green onions, ginger and garlic, cook for about 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn garlic. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, sugar, red bell pepper and vinegar. Mix 2 Tablespoons water with 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and pour into mixture stirring well. Add cayenne pepper to taste. Add fried tofu and steamed vegetables and coat evenly.

Serve immediately over your choice of rice.

Serves: 4 - We actually got about 5 servings out of this. Once you add the rice, it fills you up fast.

Preparation time: 30 Minutes

I Missed My Birthday

But that's what happens when your birthday is on Sunday, I think.

That and I was in a mood where I can't really think of anything I want. Ridiculous, I know. But true.

Actually, I think it just took too much time to think about what I might want and so I just didn't. {As you can tell from my recent lack of blogging I haven't exactly had a lot of time since somewhere around November}

Robert and Adjoa sent me flowers for my Birthitine. I let it slide, even though I am adamant that Birthday and Valentine's Day should be separate when dealing with presents. They are still prettily sitting in the middle of the kitchen table where I can whiz by them every day and smile.

On a slightly divergent vein, I have kept the cards from all the flowers Robert has ever sent me. It's one of the only romantically corny and sentimental things I do. Oh, actually that's a lie. The very first one I don't have. I'm certain it's around here somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it for a long time. I guess it's possible that I threw it away during a short break-up that occurred while we were dating because someone was impatient and someone else wasn't communicating his - uh - or her intentions very well. Plus it was long distance and there's only so much patience for that, right?

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I still do have it. Somewhere. But even if I don't, I remember what it said because it was the first.

So. Back to my birthday. No body showed up to clean my sink, but Robert did take Adjoa for the day on Saturday. They left me alone in the house and it was heavenly. I stayed in my P.J.s all day. Never mind the fact that I still worked - it was just quiet and I didn't allow myself to care that my hair was a mess and my sleep-wrinkled P.J.s remained on my body. {I was eventually forced to get myself all gussied up when we went out to dinner that night, but in hind sight, I shouldn't have. I must remember that for next time).

By the time my actual Birthitine day rolled around, we all forgot it was the 14th.

So anyway. Happy Birthitine to Me!

Fotos for Food

The ever awesome Amy has set up an amazing opportunity for everyone to help raise money for Luckyhill. Our goal is to provide free food every day for all the school children. That way, every child is ensured a meal every day. Even if they don't get that at home.

Here's Amy's post:

I am so grateful! Jami, my wonderful neighbor and friend, has graciously donated her time and awesome photography skills for the benefit of Belinda and her friends. She has offered to do a day of "mini, mini sessions", with 100% of the cost going directly to the nutrition program at Luckyhill.

Here's the details:

And here's how it works:

1.) Email Jami to schedule your "mini mini session" for Feb. 20th.

2.) Bring your cute child or children HERE and Jami will take individual portraits of each child.

3.) The best part . . . a couple weeks later you'll get a disc with 3-5 images of your child, perfectly ready for printing or facebook, or whatever!

You'll be helping Luckyhill and getting cute photos of your kiddos!

You can get more info and contact Jami by visiting her blog here.

The Elusive Seth

That was the nickname his parents gave him. Months and months ago. It is his superhero name.

I met Seth for the first time in December. There had been many stories before him, and his parents had shared so many memories of their time with him, that it was easy to feel like I knew him already.

Everyone talks about his smile - and it's true. It just lights you up to see him smile. He played hide-and-seek with us while Lois and I were visiting. He's VERY good at it. He would sneak up on us and jump out from behind the sofa with a smile as broad and bright as the day. He also excelled at playing a joke on me where he would disappear around the corner and wait to see how long I kept talking before I realized he was gone.

He loved his family very much and just worshiped his dad. My heart goes out to the Watson family. I hope you find peace and comfort in knowing we love you and Seth.

We all loved him - and we will all miss him.

One Year Anniversay!

Today is special to me. One year ago yesterday Adjoa came home! She flew in around 11 pm on the 7th - we were so excited! I paced around the airport waiting and waiting. She was quite sleepy, but recognized me right away and snuggled up to me. I carried her on my back out of the airport and we drove straight home.

We spent a few moments walking around the house together - she freaked out when she saw Eden - like screaming freaked out. They are best friends now. About half way into our Hawaii trip this Christmas, Adjoa went into the bathroom and came out with tears streaming down her face. When questioned about why she was so upset, she said, "I miss Eden!" It was so cute.

Anyway, I can hardly believe it has been a year already! She is amazing and special and I am so lucky and blessed to have her as my daughter!



We went to breakfast this morning to celebrate - breakfast was the first meal we had together at home. I figured it would be a great way to celebrate how blessed we have been this year.

We love you, Adjoa!

Valley of the Temples, Dole Plantation, and Waimea Valley

Towards the end of our trip we visited the Dole Plantation {education AND fun!}, the Valley of the Temples, and Waimea Valley.

The Dole Plantation has super-yummy pineapple ice-cream, and Robert's parents love the pineapple cream macadamia nuts there. Adjoa loves the train and the ice-cream.

The Valley of the Temples is an amazing replica of a temple in China. They built the entire temple without nails. It's beautiful - and the ponds have some seriously HUGE Koi.

Finally, we stopped by Waimea Valley. There is an easy hike up to the waterfall, and they have a massive botanical garden. We had fun swimming in the waterfall - although it was a little cold.

On our way out of the valley, Adjoa and Pa came up with a fun and entertaining method of travel. Well, fun for Adjoa, rather tiring for Pa. I'm sure it all started as an accident, but Adjoa was having so much fun, Pa just HAD to keep up the game. I'm pretty sure they burned the stroller when we left. It was for our best interest. If Adjoa ever sees that stroller again, she's going to be more excited than a kid at Disneyland.

Pearl Harbor

We did the customary visit to Pearl Harbor. Robert really enjoyed it. This time around we also did the Bowfin tour, which was pretty cool. The audio tour informed me that submarines made up about 2% of the US Naval Fleet and were responsible for something like 80% of the attacks on enemy vessels. Pretty cool.

The audio tour - geared for families - presented the Bowfin to us as though we were new recruits. Hence all the 'recruit' references in my captions. I really got into it. Not that I'd really want to BE on a submarine for 2 years, it's just fun to visit.

There are some pictures of Adjoa doing a welcome back dance - I thought the action blurs were kind of cool - I like the way her dress looks.

We also went out to the USS Arizona Memorial. They show a video before and it's pretty sobering.

Finally, there are a couple pictures Robert took as we were headed back to the car - I looked down, and Adjoa was holding her dress up like a princess and muttering to herself. It was pretty cute. Please look at her and not my bum.

The Oahu Revealed guide book also had a little story about Pearl Harbor that we found interesting:

An Oversight Leads to a Spared Gas Station - and Victory in WWII

Say what you want about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: Militarily, the plan was brilliantly conceived and executed. The level of surprise was only matched by the level of destruction, and Japanese losses were minimal. Although our aircraft carriers weren't there (by chance, not design), the Japanese nonetheless achieved their goals and did not make any mistakes....except for one - a mistake so giant, so glaring and so important that it possibly ended up costing Japan the war.

When Japanese warplanes were swarming around during the attack, their pilots were so single-mindedly focused on destroying ships and planes that they totally ignored row after row of conspicuous white fuel tanks above the ground. In them was the fuel that powered all of America's Pacific Fleet. If a single bomb had been dropped on just one of the tanks, it could have set them all ablaze. It would have taken a year to replace that fuel. A year that our aircraft carriers would have sat idle without any gas. A year when the Japanese navy would have had free reign. A year that could have changed the outcome of WWII.

Having dodged that potentially fatal bullet, the navy accelerated a plan that was already in the works - building giant gas tanks underground beneath Red Hill to hold the quarter billion gallons of fuel needed to power the Navy's Pacific Fleet. (Large naval ships can only travel a few fee per gallon.) To this day if you are near the H-3 and H-201 freeway intersection and look mauka (toward the mountain), you will see Red Hill, the Pacific Fleet's gas station and the Navy's response to the Japanese biggest blunder of the Pacific War.

Oh, and here's a quick little vid-gem. Robert was taking a video - his intent was to talk about the Wet Guns, but because I'm soooooo hysterical, he started laughing and stopped. That's the story I'm sticking with. It sounds better than "I totally got into the whole recruit thing from the audio tour and I'm so dorky that my husband laughs at me." In case you miss it, yes I did say rather proudly, "I'm a good recruit!" I was just passing on what my commanding officer told me, folks.

Maui

For our Christmas present, my mom took us all over to Maui. We stayed in an amazing resort and went on a whale tour boat. The only downer - it wasn't long enough. We all loved it and agreed that an additional day or two would have made it the bees knees. Not that it wasn't the bees knees, because it was. It would have been even more bees knees - bigger bees knees.

We stopped by the Maui Aquarium because we had some time before check-in. It was good, but I like the one on Oahu just as well and it's cheaper. Robert and Adjoa were posing for a picture and the woman next to us told her son she wanted to take his picture too. He said "OK!" and then ran over and joined Adjoa and Robert. It was so funny. The mom was totally embarrassed. So if you see a random boy with Robert and Adjoa at the aquarium, you'll know who it is.

Our whale tour was with the Pacific Whale Foundation. There was a TON of awesome activity during our trip out. We saw a mom and baby do a double breech, lots of surface activity like flipper slaps and tail slaps and a whale breached about 30 yards from the boat. We were right in front and had an awesome view. A co-tourist got it on vid, so I'll post that. You can hear me screaming and Nana and Pa talking. It's pretty cool. Not that we are talking - the whale part of it is what's cool. I did get some fun pictures of the whale, and I got a vid of one that was further away.

After the breach that was in front of our boat, every time we saw something Adjoa would say, "It wasn't big enough, mommy!"

A funny story - one evening Robert and I went out to walk along the beach and I told Adjoa she needed to brush her teeth while we were gone. I told her she needed to be ready for bed when we got back. {She stayed behind in the suite with Nana and Pa} Pa was in the shower and she kept trying to go into the bathroom. Nana kept getting after her, telling Adjoa she needed to wait until Pa was done. Adjoa kept saying something, but Nana didn't catch it. Finally, Adjoa broke down - Nana asked when she was getting so upset.

She said, "I'm going to be in big, big trouble."
"Why?" asked Nana.
"Because mommy told me to do something. I have to brush my teeth or I'm going to be in big-big trouble."

Funny girl. At least she understands that she need to do what she's been asked.

Slide show of Maui

Vid of Big Whale Breach

Whale activity further away.

Really cool Banyan Tree near the docks

Secret Vid of Pa doing a funny dance to entertain Adjoa.

Another Christmas

When we arrived, Nana and Pa had a few Christmas presents for Adjoa. She was starting to get the hang of it and it was cute to watch her.

The first couple days were spent relaxing with minimal sight seeing. Just as Robert requested.

We visited the Birthing Stones - they are right in the middle of a sugar cane field. The sign at this site says chiefs and chiefesses came to this site for the birth of their children. A child born here was assured high-ranking status.

My mom has the Oahu Revealed guidebook {it's excellent, by the way} and here's what it says about these stones:

Royal birthing procedures were different from what commoners went through. When the time came, the woman would arrive at what was then a secret spot, and in the presence of 36 male chiefs she would position herself at certain stones

and in certain ways to give birth while they watched. (Gee, that must have created quite the awkward moment…) Within minutes of birth the child was taken away, and the mother would not see her child again until it was grown. This was to ensure that the child would not be murdered. Infanticide in high-ranking families was common among rival chiefs.

My mom wanted me to sit on the stones so she could take a picture. There were quite a few people around and I was a little embarrassed, so my dad did. She asked me again, and I declined. So Robert, my kind, considerate, loving husband yells, "Get on the birthin' stones, Jessica!" I was embarrassed - mortified, really - but finally decided it would be better than another public humiliation.

I also took a couple pictures of a nice, vibrant sunset on the beach.

A {Quick} Christmas

We had a very quick Christmas and then headed off to Hawaii to visit Nana and Pa. Adjoa opened a few presents and I managed to snap a pic and take a vid before it blazed by.

Aren't her Christmas Eve jammies the cutest??? They were called Partridge in a Pear Tree. She loved them and insisted on taking them to Hawaii. She'll be soooo hot, but oh well!

I thought I might be able to sneak by this year without really doing all the Christmas stuff - it's easier when your child has never experienced Christmas.

Our Thanksgiving week in Seattle killed that hope. Rus put up the tree and the kids got to help - Adjoa was so excited and enthralled by the beauty of the tree, I felt obligated to decorate at our house too. And of course, a tree isn't a tree without some presents underneath! I Wrapped up a few things I had purchased prior, and I made a quick dash to the store after I got home from Ghana.

It was fun - but what was MORE fun??? Hoping on a plane and heading to Hawaii.

We all decided it would be ok with us if Nana and Pa stayed in Hawaii. It doesn't seem so lavish when you say you are going to visit your parents!